Seaddle.
The bar was a small place — to call it a dive might be too generous — and even for its size, it boasted few customers. No wonder; the whole place was covered in grime and the tables wobbled on rickety legs even when there was nothing atop them. When the few fans overhead had last worked was anypony’s guess. Behind the bar was a mirror, perhaps, but it could easily have just been another wall given how opaque several layers of dust had rendered it.
Into this bar stepped Radiant Hope and Sombra.
“Are you sure this is the place?” Sombra asked.
“I’ve been looking for him for a while now,” Hope responded. “And every lead I found points to this place.”
Hope’s sky-blue eyes scanned the bar. She could not make him out from the three or four ponies lined up there. She was looking for the wild mane and the massive beard, neither of which she saw.
“Hope, are you really sure I need to do this?” Sombra said.
“You said you wanted to start making peace with yourself,” Hope said. “Who better to start with?”
“But what if he’s still angry at me? A thousand years is a long time.”
“It’s the chance you’ll have to take if you want to make things up with him. And once we’re done, we can go wherever you want.”
Sombra nodded. “There is one thing I’d like to do. I think I’d like to go home.”
“Home? Sombra, do you mean....”
“Yes, Hope, I’d like to return to the Crystal Empire. I’d like to finally see the Crystal Heart how it was supposed to be seen.”
Hope’s face lit up. “Well, it is almost time for the Crystal Faire! We could finally go! Oh, Sombra! We could finally make it, after all these years!”
“I can think of nothing better,” Sombra said with a smile.
Hope was so happy, she could barely remember why they were there. But as she glanced over at the bar, she noticed a particular cutie mark on one of the ponies at the bar. An oaken staff.
Come to think of it, there was something peculiar about that pony’s blue coat. It seemed almost like... crystal?
“There he is!” Hope said. “Follow me!”
“Lailoken!” she said as she approached.
Lailoken turned to look at the two new arrivals. Hope was surprised at his appearance, though she really should not have been. The beard was all gone, shaved off. Underneath, despite several wrinkles, Lailoken still had some of his youthful handsomeness. His mane was also cut short and slicked back now. His purple eyes were bright and clear. He looked well, or at least as well as a pony who had aged a thousand years could look.
“Hope,” he said, largely without emotion. Then he looked to the figure beside Hope. If Sombra gave him any concern, he did not show it.
“What have you been doing with yourself since I last saw you?” Hope asked. “Have you just been hanging out in this dive bar?”
Lailoken shrugged. “Nothing much else to do. When you come back after a thousand years, Equestria looks like a very different place. I don’t need to tell you that.”
“You, at least, weren’t gone for a thousand years,” Hope said. “You were still wandering Equestria.”
Lailoken tapped his head. “I was gone. Up here.”
“Right,” Hope said with a nod. “But you can’t just sit around here and waste the life you’ve been given. You still need to do something with it.”
“I don’t know if I can,” Lailoken said. “I just don’t feel like there’s any place I belong in the new Equestria.”
“I know the feeling,” Hope said. “But your special talent has gone unused for over a millennium. You can’t let it go unused now.”
“What am I supposed to do? Find more druids? They haven’t existed for centuries.”
“No, but the skills they practiced are still needed. We always need more healers. I can’t do it all alone.”
“But where do I even start?”
“I’ll tell you what,” Hope said. “There’s a place in town, Seaddle Specialist Hospital. They’ve got quite a reputation and I’m sure they’d love to have a healer with your skills working for them. They haven’t had a decent pharmacist in a while. With your skills, you could probably even whip up a whole new bunch of medications for them in no time!”
“That sounds like chemistry,” Lailoken said. “I made potions. I didn’t do chemistry.”
Hope grinned. “It’s just the modern version of potion-making! Besides, they just lost their head doctor, so....”
Hope's face went blank. Thoughts of Dr. Fie filled her mind.
Lailoken tilted his head. He seemed to be considering it. Finally, he nodded. “Okay, I’ll check it out later.”
This was enough to bring Hope back to herself. Though thinking of Dr. Fie still hurt, she felt it was becoming easier with time. And besides, she was sure he would be proud of her for what she just did.
“I guess you’re still trying to save me,” Lailoken said.
“No,” Hope responded, “I’m just giving you a chance to save yourself.”
Pleased with her work, Hope spun around, ready to leave. Except there was Sombra, just standing there, looking rather uncertain as to what was going on.
“Oh, right….” Hope said as she turned back to Lailoken.
She tapped him on the foreleg. He faced her and Sombra again.
“I don’t think you two have ever been introduced,” Hope said. “Er, I mean, not properly. Lailoken, this is Sombra. Sombra, Lailoken.”
Sombra managed a small, “Nice to finally meet you.” Lailoken did not respond at all.
Hope gently nudged Sombra. He shifted his weight back and forth a little, unable to get comfortable. "I know, I know," he said to her.
“I’m sorry about what I did to you a thousand years ago,” he said to Lailoken. “I’m sorry that I tore apart your mind, drove you completely insane, and cursed you with a millennium of unending life without the youth to go with it. I am sorry for the unimaginable suffering I must have caused you. I know that you can probably never forgive me after what you’ve been through. But I want you to know that I will always be truly and deeply sorry for what I have done and how I have hurt you.”
Lailoken looked at Sombra for a moment, as though studying him. His expression did not change. He spoke.
“Pick up my tab and we’ll call it even.”
Then Lailoken turned and flagged down the barkeep. “Another round of drinks for everypony!”
As the other three ponies cheered, Sombra gave Hope an annoyed look. Hope just smiled innocently back. Sombra sighed and began to dig bits out from a saddlebag around his waist.
“I knew redemption had a cost,” he muttered. “I didn’t think it would cost so much.”
Hope tapped Lailoken’s foreleg again. “I just wanted to tell you one more thing,” she said.
Lailoken tore his attention from his newest beverage and once more gave Hope his focus.
“I want you to know that you were right,” Hope said. “All those years ago and again at the Empress of Equestria, when you said destiny isn’t fixed. You were right.”
Lailoken shrugged. “Maybe.”
The Crystal Empire.
“Yep, it’s all right here,” said the old crystal mare at the stall. “First edition. Hot off the presses.”
A green aura surrounded one of the books. It rose up into the air and opened directly before the face of a large grey stallion under a dark cloak. The hood of his cloak hid his face well enough already, but he could never be too sure.
“This here’s the whole story,” the mare said. “The whole, unvarnished truth. Not the type of nonsense you read about in the southern papers, oh, no.”
“You’re not too kind to Sombra in here,” the grey stallion said.
“Not too kind?” the old mare asked. “I was kinder than he deserved, I’d say. It’s not like the Daily North Equestria’s making it out to be. I mean, some romantic claptrap about a lost crystal princess and the friend she lost forever. The things you non-crystal ponies will believe, I swear!”
The stallion grit his teeth a little. “Ponies can be such fools.”
“But none of that garbage, here,” the mare said. “No siree. This is the true story of the irredeemable tyrant King Sombra and how he nearly destroyed everything we crystal ponies care about. Three times.”
“I see....” the stallion said, flipping through the pages. “I don’t see much on Radiant Hope in here. She was such a big part of my... of King Sombra’s story... or so I’ve heard.”
“Oh, she’s in there,” the mare said darkly. “Flip to page 26.”
The stallion did so. He grimaced. “I didn’t know you could put language like that in a book and still get it published.”
“You believe me, if the publisher had allowed it, I would have said worse.”
“You know, I think there’s a few inaccuracies in here,” the stallion said.
The mare raised her brows. “And how would you know?”
“Well, for one thing, Sombra didn’t just ‘flip out’ and turn evil. It was a long process,” the stallion began. “And I think you can lay some of the blame at Princess Amore’s hooves. She never told him about the Crystal Heart. As for Radiant Hope....”
He felt a tug on his cloak. He looked down to see another cloaked pony, this one much smaller, clearly a mare. A hood also covered her face. But underneath, he could still the crystalline sheen of her lavender coat, as well as all the watery blue rivulets of mane hair bursting through from underneath the hood.
The stallion nodded. He closed the book and once more read the title, Siege of the Crystal Empire: The Untold Truth
The stallion laid the book back down upon the stall. “Thank you for letting me take a look.”
Then, he moved as far from the stall as he could as fast as he could.
“Hey, aren’t you at least going to buy a copy?” the old biddy called after him. “Autographed copy’s only forty-five bits.”
Once they were out of the biddy’s earshot, Sombra shook his head. “I think this was a bad idea, Hope.”
“Oh, don’t be such a grumpy griffon,” Hope said. “We’ve waited a thousand years to attend the Crystal Faire. We couldn’t miss it again!”
Several ponies, griffons, yaks, and creatures of all kinds jostled against Sombra and Hope as they walked through the wide thoroughfare.
“I didn’t think the Faire was this... crowded....” Sombra said. “Did you at least get your flugelhorn?”
Hope looked back at the flugelhorn stand, which was the biggest at the Faire. It was a giant edifice, covered in bright colors and flashing lights. A speaker-system blared, “Buy authentic Crystal Empire flugelhorns here!”
“I... didn’t get one,” Hope said. “They either had the one which lights up in rainbow colors or the one which plays Sapphire Shores melodies. I didn’t want either. Besides, all the ‘authentic’ flugelhorns are made in Saddle Arabia these days?”
“I don’t think we belong here,” Sombra said. “I was reading that book. You should have seen the things it said.”
“Don’t worry about it, Sombra. They just want to sell more copies.”
Sombra walked by a stall with some hats with lights on them and a sign marked, ‘15 bits.’ “I’ve never actually been to the Faire before. Is this it? Is it just an opportunity to sell stuff?”
“No, of course not! The Crystal Faire is the one time of year when all crystal ponies come together to express our love for one another and reaffirm our fundamental unity. It is something special which only ponies from the Crystal Empire can fully understand.”
While contemplating this noble idea, Hope stopped in her tracks. She caught sight of a giant stall blocking their path. A large sign on top of it proclaimed, 'Experience the Faire like it was meant to be! Become a crystal pony! Full metallic body-painting, 125 bits!'
“Though the Faire has gotten a lot more commercialized since I was a foal,” Hope remarked. “Maybe we don’t really belong here anymore.”
“But, that book.” Sombra said. “The things it says about me.... I suppose I deserve them after what I’ve done... but, Hope, it says some truly terrible things about you.”
Hope looked past Sombra. On the side of one of the crystal buildings was an old wanted poster. It had her face on it.
“Ponies are always just going to see what they want to see,” Hope said. “Come on. It’s about time.”
Hope grabbed Sombra’s hoof and led him through the massive throng of ponies, creatures, and merchandise. It required quite a bit of dodging and weaving, which was easier for Hope than for Sombra. One yak even bumped into Sombra hard enough to knock the hood from his head. He looked around nervously and quickly pulled the hood back up.
Lucky for him, nopony noticed. Why would they, when there was a stall offering, ‘authentic crystal sunglasses and visors, machine-made by hoof, 35 bits,' in the immediate vicinity.
Finally, however, Hope broke through the crowd. She led Sombra to the Crystal Dais. They found a relatively unobstructed spot off to the side and took their place among the ponies already assembled there. The ceremony was just beginning. There was Princess Cadance at the other end of the Dais, dressed in all her royal finery. She approached the Crystal Heart. Shining Armor, dressed the formal wear befitting a prince, was by her side.
“Does she look like she’s put on weight to you?” Sombra whispered to Hope.
“Of course you’d notice the pretty pink pony’s figure,” Hope answered.
Sombra blushed underneath his grey coat. “What? No! I didn’t even notice her like that. It’s just, she was one of my mortal enemies. I had to have a good idea what she looked like!”
“Sure,” Hope said skeptically. “I’m sure your interest was entirely tactical.”
As Princess Cadance approached the Heart, it began to shine much more brightly than usual. As she touched her horn to it, it let out a flash of light. Cadance was transformed. Her usually solid coat had become entirely crystalline, and the light reflected through it cast shades of pink on everything around her. She looked beautiful.
The Heart began to beat with light and energy. With each pulsation, it set out another flash of light. In the first, Shining Armor was transformed. He now matched his wife in both texture and luminosity, making them look even more perfect of a couple than they already did.
With the next flash, the ponies of the first row were transformed. Hope and Sombra were among them. Hope quickly pulled her cloak more tightly around her; she needed to hide how brightly her body was shining. She feared that, even with the cloak, she could be easily identified. Sombra, however, let his hood down and his cloak blow behind him. He felt no more need for it. Now glistening with crystal light, he was now utterly unrecognizable as the former king of monsters and had nothing to fear.
The Heart pulsated with a greater and greater light. As the luminosity increased in magnitude, rays of light shot throughout the whole of the Crystal Empire. The gleaming spires gleamed even more brightly. Every surface on every building shined. The streets and alleys, and everything upon them, became light.
Every single creature in the realm had also been transformed. Now, they were all beings of crystal, filled throughout with the light of the Crystal Heart.
“So this is the Crystal Faire,” Sombra said. “It only took a thousand years to see it.”
“So, what do you think?” Hope said, a tear in her eye.
“It’s beautiful,” Sombra answered.
From somewhere in the vast, crystalline crowd, a pony called out, “You’ve got to be kidding me! After I spent 135 bits on this paintjob? Rip-off!”
“Well, it was beautiful,” Sombra said.
“Yeah....” Hope said. “I think the Faire was better a thousand years ago. I’m sorry, Sombra.”
Sombra smiled at her. “It doesn’t matter. The Crystal Heart may be beautiful, but it’s nothing compared to the beautiful heart in the crystal pony next to me.”
Hope smiled. “Oh, you charmer! That line almost makes up for you checking out Princess Cadance.”
Sombra pulled Hope to him. “It’s good to know I’m back in your good books.”
“I said almost,” Hope answered with a wink.
They kissed. Hope’s hood fell from her head, revealing her flowing mane, shimmering with light. The brilliant glow of the Crystal Heart enfolded them in its gentle embrace.
Suddenly, Hope realized that all the ponies around them were staring. She quickly pulled out of the kiss and threw her hood over her head, trying to hide her face as much as possible.
“I guess somepony had too much crystal wine,” said a unicorn, to general laughter.
Tourists, thank Celestia! Hope thought.
But Sombra barely noticed. Hope looked up at him. Something else was clearly bothering him.
“Sombra, what’s wrong?” she asked.
“I’m just thinking,” Sombra responded as her stared at the Heart. “I’ve been given a second chance. I’ve gotten everything I ever wanted. But I don’t deserve it, not after everything I’ve done.”
“Oh, Sombra, you know you have to forgive yourself. Everyone else has forgiven you.”
“Not everyone. That bookseller, for instance.”
“Forget her. They just don’t understand.”
Sombra looked at Hope. “How can you be fine with me, though? After what I did. I’m the one who got your Dr. Fie killed.”
Hope did not face Sombra. “We all make mistakes. It just happened. I don’t blame you.”
“Well, maybe you should,” Sombra said, his voice rising. “I feel like somebody should. I keep waiting for something to happen, for someone to realize who I am, for me to receive the punishment I deserve. Do you know how hard that is?”
“Definitely too much of the crystal wine,” the unicorn in the crowd said.
“Shut up!” Sombra yelled at him.
“Sombra, calm down,” Hope said, tried to keep her voice down. “This isn’t helping anyone.”
Sombra began to calm down. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lost my temper. I know I’m supposed to forgive myself. But do you know how hard that is, after all I’ve done?”
“I do,” Hope said quietly.
“I just wish there was something I could do,” Sombra said. “Something which could fix everything. Something which could fix everything I’ve ever done.”
“Where have I heard that before?” Hope asked, more to herself than to Sombra.
“What?”
Hope looked Sombra in the eyes. “You can’t fix everything. I should know. You can try and try, but some things just cannot go back to how they were. You can only move forward.”
“But how am I supposed to do that?” Sombra asked. “Where do I even begin?”
“Well,” Hope said, “you can’t fix everything. But maybe there’s something you can try to fix. Something, at least, which you can make up for.”
Sombra glanced at the Crystal Heart and at Cadance. He nodded.
Turning back to Hope, he said, “Well, there is one thing. I’ve been thinking, this all started when I had turned Princess Amore to stone. When I shattered her, I felt lost to everything but darkness. If I could make up for that, somehow, maybe it would be a start.”
“Maybe,” Hope said, looking back to the Heart, “but it would be a tall order trying to figure out how. You can’t bring Princess Amore back to life, after all.”
Sombra smiled bashfully. “Actually... she’s not dead.”
Hope’s head whipped around. “Not dead? But I saw you shatter her.”
“I believe Princess Amore’s essence to still be in her those fragments of her body. If we could find them and reassemble them, I think....”
Hope gasped. “You think we could bring her back.”
“With how powerful your magic has grown, I don’t doubt it,” Sombra said.
“But weren’t some lost on the ship?”
Sombra smiled knowingly, remembering what he had seen in the sky that day. “I have a feeling they’ll turn up, somewhere.”
Hope pulled him into a hug. “Sombra, this is great news! And, of course, I’ll help bring her back.”
“Thank you, Hope,” Sombra said, returning the embrace. “I’m thinking, maybe we should head out early, before the Faire ends. We can get a head start on finding Amore’s lost shards. This isn’t our home anymore. There’s no reason for us to stay. I’ll even race you to the exit.”
Hope’s face took on a look of concern. She let go of Sombra and looked to the saddlebag around her waist. Her horn lit up, and a letter floated out.
Hope remembered the last time she had brought a letter like this to Sombra’s attention. It did not end well. She could only imagine how it would go this time.
“Hope, what is that?” Sombra asked, concerned.
“It’s a telegram from Seaddle Specialist,” Hope said. “They need me to come back.”
“Come back? Why? We just left Seaddle! I thought we were done with that city! We left to come....”
Sombra stopped himself.
“Home,” Hope finished for him. “But like you said, it’s not our home anymore.”
“So, what does the hospital want with you?” Sombra asked. “Why can’t they just let you be?”
“It has to do with Dr. Fie,” Hope answered, looking through the letter. “They want me to come down and sort out his estate. Something about his will naming me his executor. It also says they need to talk to me about something important regarding the hospital. I don’t know. But I have to go back. If it has to do with Dr. Fie, I have to go.”
“I suppose this is what I deserve for killing him. He got back at me in the end.”
“Sombra!” Hope scolded.
“Sorry,” Sombra said. “I understand why you need to go back. We’ll make a quick stop in Seaddle, you’ll drop by the hospital, and then we’ll head out again. No problem.”
“I don’t know how long it's going to take, Sombra.”
“But I can’t wait, Hope!” Sombra said. “This guilt is already too much. I need to try and deal with it somehow. And being there, while you go through the effects of this pony whose death I am responsible for, is going to kill me!”
“I know.”
Sombra stamped his hoof. “Then you see why I can’t go.”
“I do,” Hope said. “But I need to.”
“So, what do we do?”
Hope looked once more to the Crystal Heart. It seemed now to shine even brighter than it had before.
“I think you should go,” Hope said. “Go without me.”
“What? I can’t leave you. You know that.”
“I know it's hard, but I think you need to do this,” Hope continued. “I can see how the guilt is tearing you up. I was like that once, too. And it will destroy you if you don’t handle it. But I can’t be with you. At least not yet. I need to do this for Dr. Fie first.”
“I knew it!” Sombra snapped. “You haven’t forgiven me for his death! You blame me and now you’re punishing me!”
Hope frowned. “We’re falling back into the old patterns, aren’t we? This is why we need to do this. We both need it, I think.”
“How can either of us need this?”
Hope put her hoof on Sombra’s shoulder. “You and me, for our whole lives, we’ve defined each other. It was just the two of us who made each other what we were. But then, after the Siege, I thought I lost you forever, and I had to start defining myself apart from you. And it was good for me. It reminded me that there are other ponies in this world besides the two of us. I think we forgot about that somewhere.”
“But Hope, we just finally found each other again! You can’t leave me now! I can’t find Princess Amore on my own! I need you. I need you to heal her. I need you to heal me!”
Hope raised her hoof from Sombra’s shoulder to his cheek. “I can’t heal you. At least, not in the way you’re hurting. Only you can heal yourself now.” She tried to smile. “Besides, it’s not forever. Just for a little while. I’m not leaving you, Sombra. We’ll just be on different paths for a little while.”
“You are leaving me!” Sombra said, tears in his eyes. “After everything, you are leaving me!”
“It’s not about you and me,” Hope said. “You said you still could not forgive yourself. I’ve managed it. But you never had the chance I did. You never got to define yourself apart from me. I’m giving you the chance now.”
Sombra sneered. He turned away. “So, I guess you’re trying to tell me that you want us to go our separate ways.”
Hope guided his face back to hers. “Only so that, when we come back together, it will be better than it ever was.”
Sombra pursed his lips. He nodded. “I suppose... I do need some time to think things over. But I don’t want you out of my life.”
“You know where I’ll be,” Hope said. “You can find me again when you’re ready.”
“But how will I know when I’m ready?” Sombra asked.
Hope smiled at him. “Trust me, you’ll know.”
“I’ll know,” he said. “Well, if you really think we should do this, fine. I’ll give it a try.”
“I don’t want to do it. It breaks my heart. But I know we’ll be better for it if we do. And you did say you wanted to be a better pony.”
Sombra smiled glumly. “I did.”
There was an awkward silence between them. Each wanted to speak, but both knew that anything they said would only make the hurt sting more. Finally, Sombra took the initiative. He wiped a tear from his eye. “Well, I suppose I’ll try to get going before the crowd. Long goodbyes have never been my thing.”
“But you will say goodbye this time?” Hope asked.
Sombra nodded. He leaned in and kissed Hope on the cheek. “Goodbye, Radiant Hope.”
She turned her eyes from Sombra and once more to the Crystal Heart. It was still casting light upon them. A single tear ran down her cheek.
“It’s not goodbye,” she said.
But when she turned around, Sombra was already gone. An unseasonably warm wind picked up and blew past Hope, knocking her hood down to her shoulders. She no longer cared.
“Not forever.”
She once more looked to the Crystal Dais. There was the Crystal Heart, gleaming brightly. And standing beside it were Cadance and Shining Armor. He had his head on her shoulder and was nuzzling her neck. His hoof patted her belly.
Cadance smiled. But then, she seemed to catch something out of the corner of her eye. Hope was sure the princess looked in her direction.
Hope didn’t care. She turned around and pulled her hood back up. Slowly, but with certain steps, she walked away.
There was nothing left for her here.
“I never thought it would be so hard to come back to this place,” Hope said to herself as she walked through the halls of Seaddle Specialist Hospital, slowly making her way toward the third-floor front desk.
As the desk came into view, she thought, I can’t do this! I can’t do this!
But then Hope shook her head. “No, I need to do this.”
Raspberry Ripple was at the front desk. When she saw Radiant Hope coming, her lips curved into a smile. This time, though, Hope could not tell the meaning behind it. Was it supposed to be mean or kind?
“Haven’t seen you around in a while,” Raspberry Ripple remarked. “I didn’t think you’d ever come back, not after what happened.”
Raspberry pointed toward the wall with her wing. There, with the words “In Memoriam” above it, was a photograph of Dr. Fiddly Fie, his hooves on his chest, with his characteristically large grin and narrowed eyes.
“I had to,” Hope said. “For him, I had to.”
“You know, I always liked him,” Raspberry responded.
Hope smiled a little. “Did you? I never thought you were a fan.”
“What?” Raspberry said. “Just because I thought he was an insufferable, pompous windbag? It doesn’t mean I didn’t like him.”
“Of course, it didn’t,” Hope said. “I can tell the love is real.”
“Yeah, it’s just like how, even though I think you’re a no-talent little floozy, it doesn’t mean I don’t like you.”
“Thanks, I think,” Hope said. “Wait, floozy?”
“I saw you around a few weeks ago, parading Mister Tall, Dark, and Handsome all around the city’s bars. Nice to see you’re already on the rebound.” Raspberry chuckled or herself. “You do like the fancy boys, don’t you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hope asked.
“Nothing,” Raspberry said, her tone indicating that it meant everything. “One of these days, honey, we need to have a long talk about your taste in stallions.”
“Raspberry, it’s not like that. We were just going to those bars looking for a guy.”
Raspberry slapped her head with her wing. “Ooh-la-la, getting adventurous, are we? I envy you.”
Walked into that one, Hope thought.
“Raspberry, I should probably explain about Sombra,” Hope said. “You’ve probably got questions.”
“What you do in your own time is none of my business, honey,” Raspberry said.
Hope had to work hard to keep her jaw from dropping. “Do you not know who King Sombra is?”
Raspberry shrugged. “I don’t follow politics.”
“So, you don’t know who I am?”
Raspberry looked up at Hope from the corner of her eyes. “Look, I know you’re coming up in the world, but don’t get on much like Dr. Fie now. You don’t have the eyebrows for arrogance.”
Hope looked all around her. She caught a glimpse at a newspaper lying in the seating area nearby. It was the Seaddle Daily Stablegraph.
A blue aura surrounded it and it came flying toward Hope. She trotted up to the desk and held the paper up beside her.
“Haven’t you seen this?” she asked.
Raspberry looked up at the paper. The front page consisted of a picture of Hope and the headline, “False Princess and Traitor!”
She just raised her brows. “I don’t read the Stablegraph anymore. They fired my husband, you know. Deputy editor, fifteen years, and they just up and fire him. Now I have to work extra shifts, and he’s home all the time! If ever I see that Fast Facts, I’m gonna kill him!”
Hope threw the paper down. “But what about the other papers. The Daily North Equestria?”
Raspberry somehow managed to display even less interest. “Like I said, my husband’s been a deputy editor of a newspaper for fifteen years. I know better now than to believe anything in the news. Besides, if I followed it, I’d have something to talk to him about.”
“It would be a tragedy,” Hope remarked.
“I know, right? Can you even imagine?”
Hope nodded.
“Can I just have the key to Dr. Fie’s study, please?” Hope asked. “I’ve just come to clear it out.”
Raspberry’s eyes narrowed. “Is that really all you came to do?”
“What else?”
Raspberry pretended to go innocently back to her filing. “I just thought Seaddle Specialist’s new head doctor would have too much responsibility to up and leave just like that.”
Hope took a few steps back. “New head… doctor?”
“That’s the rumor that’s been going around,” Raspberry said. “I don’t know if it’s true. You’d have to ask the board of trustees. They keep sending ponies around here looking for you. They said something about sending you a letter?”
“I got the letter,” Hope said. “It said they wanted to talk to me about something. I didn’t know it was this.”
Raspberry went back to her work. “I guess you can get to the top by playing the field….”
“Well, you don’t have to worry, Raspberry, because I’m not taking it,” Hope said. “I can’t stay here.”
She levitated up the key Raspberry had placed on the desk. Then she hurried toward the elevator.
“Wait!” Raspberry called after her. “We just got a request from Zebraland! It’s urgent! How do I respond?”
There was no answer. The elevator doors closed behind Hope.
Raspberry sighed. “Nothing’s going to change around here, is it?”
The view was spectacular from the windows of Dr. Fie’s office. Hope had to admit that. She had never really taken the time to look out from them before. But now she had nothing but time.
She was sitting at Dr. Fie’s desk, slumped down in the chair. The warm rays of the noontime sun fell upon her. They made the whole room feel warm and cozy. Of course, this was intentional. Dr. Fie had designed this whole space to be somewhere a pony would not want to leave for hours.
And hours seemed to pass. They went by and by while Hope tried to come to terms with the news she had been hit with. She had not been able to do any of the cleaning and sorting she had come here for. She had not looked through Dr. Fie’s papers or any of his personal effects. She just stared blankly.
Head doctor? Me?
It was absurd. Not that she couldn’t do it. But she couldn’t stay here. There were too many memories in this place. It was time to move on.
And yet, something held her back. She knew she could do good here. What was she supposed to do?
Wrong question. I should be asking, what do I want to do?
Hope got up and began to absently pace around the room. It might have been the right question, but it was not an easy one. She did not have the answer. She did not know what she wanted to do.
“I really wish I had someone to talk to,” Hope said.
Suddenly, the double-doors burst open. She heard a familiar voice.
“Well, well, new head doctor of Seaddle Specialist! Somepony’s really moving up in the world!”
Hope could not believe her eyes. “Starlight?”
There, indeed, was Starlight. She looked different. It took Hope a moment to realize how.
“You’ve changed your hair!”
Starlight bounced her new coif with her hoof. “Yeah, nopony much seemed to like the old one. So, I thought it was time for a change.”
“It looks good,” Hope said enthusiastically. “But what are you doing in Seaddle?”
“Long story,” Starlight said. “But the short version is, a friend of mine saw you and Sombra in the Crystal Empire during the Crystal Faire. He was too terrified to say hello. But he sent me a letter all about it, so I figured I had better check in on you guys. When I got here, that pegasus on the third floor told me I’d find you up here. Is it just me or is she a little....”
“Much?”
“That’s a nice way of saying it. I guess we have to be nice now.”
Starlight took a look around as she stepped further inside. “So this is Dr. Fie’s study? It is as... ostentatious... as I’d expect from him. Are you going to keep it, now that you’re in charge? And are you going to clear out the incurables’ ward? Or, I don’t know, use it for ponies who actually need help?”
“I would,” Hope said, "but I'm not taking the job."
“What?” Starlight asked, caught by surprise. “Why not?”
Hope shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. But you have a friend in the Crystal Empire? I’m surprised.”
“Thanks.”
“No, I mean, you said you didn’t really have friends other than me and Stirring and....”
“And Sunburst.”
Hope’s face lit up. “You found Sunburst?”
“Yep,” Starlight said. “Twilight helped me. Turns out he’s been living in the Crystal Empire for years.”
Hope ran up and wrapped her forelegs around Starlight. “That’s great. I’m so happy for you!”
Hope suddenly pulled back. “Wait, if he’s been living in the Crystal Empire, then he was there when... everything happened....”
Starlight nodded a little. “Mm-hmm. He’s not exactly your biggest fan at the moment. It’s why he didn’t want to come with me.”
“Oh, Starlight, I’m so sorry he had to go through it all, too!” Hope said. “Did you explain everything to him?”
“I tried. It didn’t take. But it’s okay, Hope. He’ll get over it. But what’s this about you not taking the job? How can you even think about letting it go?”
“I’m just not sure if I want it.”
“What?” Starlight said “Hope, this is your special talent. You were born for this! It’s your destiny!”
“I make my own destiny. And I don’t know if I want this to be it. I never saw Seaddle Specialist as a home. Especially with Dr. Fie gone.”
“But you can make it your home. I mean, you and Sombra have to live somewhere. And with a good, high-paying job, you could live comfortably, get married, start a family....” Starlight looked around. “Where is Sombra, anyway? I haven’t seen him around. Is he still lying low?”
“We’re not together right now,” Hope said quietly.
Starlight’s jaw dropped. “Not together? Not together? After everything you went through. No, scratch that, after everything we went through.”
“We decided we need some space.”
Starlight rolled her eyes. “It’s just like a stallion. You give up the best thousand years of your life for him, and he just drops you as soon as he’s gotten what he wants.”
“It’s not like that,” Hope said. “He’s gone looking for Princess Amore’s fragments. He thinks I can bring her back to life if he finds them. So he went to look for them, but I had to come here.”
“Hmm,” Starlight said. “It doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. A thousand years in a thousand pieces? Amore’s going to be mad when she gets back.”
“I hope not,” Hope said, “for Sombra’s sake. He needs this to work. It’s why I encouraged him to go.”
Starlight’s eyes grew large. “You encouraged him?” She clapped her hooves. “Miss I-Miss-Sombra, and you told him to go on without you? You really have changed!”
Hope considered it. “Maybe I have. What do you think.”
“Hey, I like it. I’m happy for you!”
“Good.”
Starlight walked over to the armchair. She began to sit down. “Mind if I sit down? It was a long walk from the train station and I didn’t want to teleport. Even though I totally could now, of course—”
“Starlight, wait!”
Starlight jumped up, looking like something had just bitten her. “What is it, Hope? What’s the matter?”
“That’s Dr. Fie’s armchair,” Hope said. “He never let any other pony sit in it or even touch it.”
Starlight shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Sure, but it’s all yours now.”
Hope looked at all the things which were now ‘hers.’ Her eyes landed on plethora of degrees on Dr. Fie’s wall. “I can’t do this. I don’t even have a medical degree.”
Starlight’s eyes followed hers. “How did he, of all ponies, even earn all these?”
“I think at least half of them come from those universities that mail you a degree if you pay five bits,” Hope said.
"I wouldn't have expected he'd actually do that," Starlight responded. "Not the part about degrees by mail. He would definitely do that. But paying so much money for them? He's still surprising me!"
“He keeps surprising both of us.”
“I don’t think you need a degree,” Starlight said. “A thousand-plus years of experience with healing every ailment known to pony-kind means more than any degree ever could. Unless it’s from the Rational University, of course.”
“Of course.”
Hope looked over to a large case that was on the desk. She picked it up and gazed at it. Inside, there was a large, golden medal. Engraved on the medal where images of the sun and moon and the words, Hero of Equestria.
“What’s that?” Starlight asked.
“Princess Celestia awarded this to Dr. Fie posthumously,” Hope said. “I accepted it in his place.”
“So, he did win it in the end, just like he always used to dream of!” Starlight said. “I can practically hear him gloating it up to that heavenly choir of his.”
Then, she took on that motherly expression which Hope had come to know so well. “He wanted you to have it, you know. This position. He knew you’d be perfect for it. He wanted you to be happy.”
“I know,” Hope said, not taking her eyes off the medal. “But if he isn’t here, I don’t want to stay.”
“But he is here,” Starlight said. “He’ll always be here as long as you are.“
“That’s nice,” Hope said. “But it’s not true.”
“It’s a lot truer if you take over than some random doctor who never met him. At least you’ll be honoring his memory.”
Hope walked behind the desk and sat down. She leaned back and held the medal in her hooves. She was silent.
“Did you get a chance to talk to Sombra about this?” Starlight asked.
“No,” Hope said. “What do you think he’d say?”
“I’d think he’d say, from what little I know of him, that you have so much to offer other ponies and you can’t keep hiding your gift. He’d say there’s so much good you could do for the world.”
“And what do you say?” Hope asked.
“I say the same, obviously,” Starlight said with a smirk.
“Obviously....” Hope’s voice was distant.
More silence. Starlight fidgeted a bit, clearly getting uncomfortable. Hope figured she should say something, if only to put Starlight more at ease.
“But what if I still don’t want it?”
“Hope, why ever not?” Starlight asked.
Hope looked up. There was a little bit of playfulness on her face. “You should know, Starlight. After all, who first taught me we shouldn’t let things like cutie marks define us? Or have you given up on your whole ideology?”
Starlight smirked. “No. Just utilizing more peaceful methods these days. And, after everything I saw you do, I’m not so much against special talents as against letting them tell you who to be.”
“Exactly,” Hope said. “The thing is, though, I don’t have a problem with my cutie mark or my special talent. But others have been defining me my whole life. First, I was supposed to be a Princess. Then an Empress. A good pony. A bad pony. And now, I’m supposed to be the head doctor of a world-renowned hospital. It’s just someone else defining me again. When I was with you and Dr. Fie, when we were chasing the Umbrum, it was the first time in my life where I was undefined. Where I could define myself. I kind of liked it.”
Starlight nodded. She went to sit down in the armchair. However, as she did so, she caught Hope’s sharp look again.
“Okay, okay.” Starlight got up and backed away from the chair. When she hit the wall, Starlight leaned against it and looked out the window.
Hope watched her. She seemed deep in thought.
“I get it, Hope.” Starlight said. “I think I started this whole ‘Equality’ thing because I didn’t like how something we have no control over could just decide who we were and change our whole lives. So, I get what you’re saying. I can see why you wouldn’t want to stay.”
“So, what do you think I should do?”
Starlight shrugged. “I can’t tell you that. Both staying and going make sense. I don’t know which is better. I don’t even know what I’m going to do myself. Twilight Sparkle wants to make me her special friendship student. I’m thinking about it, but I’m not sure I’d fit in with her and her friends. I could also move to the Crystal Empire with Sunburst.”
“Don’t,” Hope said. “It’s gotten too gentrified.”
“Or I could try to talk to Stirring Words and work things out. You know, he’s working for the Daily North Equestria again. He moved to San Franciscolt after getting his pardon and got a Job with them. Apparently, being an accomplice in a vast conspiracy to change time wasn’t considered a deal-breaker.”
“You destroyed the time-travel spell,” Hope said, “so I guess they figure it doesn’t matter. Nopony’s going to be messing with time anytime soon.”
Starlight chuckled. “Unless there’s another copy out there.”
Underneath Canterlot Castle extends a series of labyrinthine tunnels. They lead far below the city of Canterlot, deep into the mountain on which it is so precariously placed. In fact, how far they go down has never been precisely determined. Nor will you find them on any floorplan because, truth be told, they were here long before the castle itself was. Their existence is known only to a select few. Actually, to only two.
In one of the deepest of these tunnels, deep inside the mountain, Princess Luna waited impatiently.
“Come, sister, what is taking you so long?” she asked the darkness.
Of course, she expected no response. But she got one.
“Finding it wasn't as easy as I hoped. I had to dig through the entirety of the Starswirl the Bearded wing to find it."
Suddenly, a sun-like glow illuminated the entirety of this particular passage. A glow that emanated from Princess Celestia’s horn.
“We really need to order a full reorganization of the Royal Library,” Celestia said. “We never seem to be able to find what we need when we need it. Thankfully, we weren’t actually racing against the imminent destruction of the universe this time.”
“Sister, I too remember the Fillydelphia Incident,” Luna said. “You do not need to remind me of it.”
"I wish I could forget it, myself," Celestia responded. "But there isn't a memory-erasing spell in all Equestria powerful enough."
Celestia shined her horn to reveal an immense vault. The door to the vault was ancient and appeared to be carved out of an even more ancient oak. Scratched into the blackened bark of the oak was a variety of arcane symbols, their meanings long since lost in the mists of time. Around the symbols were positioned three wheels, each one of a different size. On each were intricately-detailed images of leaves, leaves that together formed mocking, laughing faces. Once, they had all been painted different colors, but those had worn off centuries ago, leaving only the faintest traces of blue, silver, and green.
"So this is the infamous vault once used by the druids?" Luna asked. "It was regarded as a myth before my banishment. Ponies of this era do not even remember it."
"This is it," Celestia responded, her tone suggesting a sense of awe. And there were few things which could hold the Princess of the Sun in awe.
"So the legends are true, then?" Luna asked. "All the dark legends about what the druids used to do...."
Celestia nodded, not taking her eyes off the oaken door. "I'm afraid so. This is indeed where the druids kept their storied supply of bootleg cider. The parties they threw were incredible. Of course, the cider's all gone now. This vault hasn't been used in ages."
"Let's just get this over with," Luna said. "This place is starting to make me uncomfortable. I fear it may be haunted."
Luna’s horn began to glow. Her magic joined with Celestia's and both made their way toward the door. The symbols lit up and the wheels began to turn. The door to the vault flew open. Beyond it was a large room. Perhaps it was decorated, perhaps not. There was not enough light to tell. But the princesses could just barely make out the broken remains of a number of bottles of cider.
A scroll, surrounded by sun-yellow light, floated up from behind Celestia and found its way into the vault. Swiftly, the door slammed behind it. The wheels spun back in the opposite direction, the symbols lost their glow, and the light disappeared from Celestia and Luna’s horns.
As they stared at what they could still make out of the vault in the darkness, Luna said, “Are you sure that is the last surviving copy of Starswirl’s time-spell, sister?”
“Yes, Luna, I am sure,” Celestia said. “I had copies made of all of Starswirl’s spells. In light of what happened, I’ve had the other copies destroyed. But I feel it is important to save one for posterity’s sake.”
“No wonder you are so fond of Twilight Sparkle,” Luna observed. “You sound just like her, sometimes.”
“Best not to let Twilight know about this. She's been asking so many questions about time-travel lately and I don't think she's ready for the answers,” Celestia said. “Nopony but the two of us can know. Time-travel is clearly too dangerous for even the most capable of hooves.”
“And you’re certain there’s no way that anypony but the two of us can find this place?” Luna asked.
“Not unless an army of dark abominations manages to get past our defenses, completely wipe out our forces, defeat the two of us, and raze Canterlot to the ground,” Celestia said.
The two princesses exchanged glances. Then, together, they laughed.
“But what are the odds of that happening again?” Celestia asked with a smile.
“Yeah, I’m sure it’s all gone,” Starlight said. “Nopony should have that kind of power."
“Agreed,” Hope said. “If we could all just change time all the time, we’d never learn anything.”
Starlight turned back from the window. “So, I guess you’ve made your decision?”
“I don’t know,” Hope said. “I just don’t know. I know I could do a lot of good here. And you’re right. It would be honoring Dr. Fie by staying here.”
“So, you’ll stay?”
“But I just don’t want to be stuck in a role that’s been set for me by somepony else. Especially not after I sent Sombra off to figure himself out, saying he needed to have the chance I did.”
“You’re not going to stay, then?”
“I want to help ponies. I am a healer. But I’m not really a pony who travels straight lines.”
Starlight shook her head in confusion. “You’ve lost me. So, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I just wish there was a middle way. A way I could help ponies and honor Dr. Fie’s memory without being trapped here.”
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Hope was going to call out that she was busy, but Raspberry Ripple barged in without waiting for a reply. She was holding a file in one of her hooves.
“I don’t mean to intrude,” she said, “but I really need an answer on this Zebraland thing. And since you’re the mare in charge now....”
“What Zebraland thing?” Hope asked.
Raspberry sighed. “Of course, you don’t listen to me. Just like he never did.”
“Raspberry, please just tell me what’s going on.”
“Well, since you asked nicely.... There’s been an epidemic in Zebraland. Some sort of disease they’ve never seen before? Well, they can’t deal with it alone, so they’ve sent a request to, and I quote, ‘Equestria’s foremost medical hospital,’ to send a handful best doctors to help fight it.”
A grin came over Hope’s face. “A delegation to Zebraland. I guess we’d need one of the best doctors here to lead it.”
“I guess,” Raspberry said. “I can bring you a dossier of some candidates, if you like.”
Hope’s grin grew wider. “I don’t know, it seems awfully important,” she said coyly. “Maybe it's more of a job for, I don’t know, the head doctor?”
Raspberry finally looked up from the file. For the first time in their acquaintance, Hope saw a look of shock on the pegasus’ face.
“You mean... you want to go... to Zebraland?” Raspberry asked, clearly struggling to wrap her brain around it.
“Don’t worry,” Hope said. “I’ll teach the doctors a few spells before I leave. Enough that they should be able to keep up our high success rate. And I’ll still be in touch in case you need anything.”
Raspberry shook her head. “It’s not that.... It’s just... so far out of Equestria. You’ll be so far from everything we ponies know. It’s so far from everything which makes ponies... well... ponies. From everything which defines us.”
“Sounds like an interesting place,” Hope said.
“Hope, are you going to do this?” Starlight said, coming up beside her. “Won’t you need to stay here? To run the administrative side of things?”
“You know what I think about those types of jobs. Princesses, Empresses, administrators. It’s not me.” Hope said. Then the grin on her face grew wider. “But there is one pony I can think of who has quite the talent for organizing and managing others.”
Starlight took a step back. She pointed to herself. “Me?”
“I think I should be able to appoint a pony to take charge in my absence,” Hope said. “And it’s just for a little while, until I get back. It wouldn’t be too much trouble for you. You’d just have to make sure things stay in order and let Sombra know what’s become of me if he asks. You can do all that, right?”
“I mean, sure. I mean, I’ve run a town and a conspiracy, so I’m sure a hospital will be no problem,” Starlight said, “but won’t the board of trustees be upset if you appoint me, an outsider with such a... mixed track record?”
“They appointed Dr. Fie, didn’t they?” Raspberry Ripple said. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“Except that I don’t have much experience with less coercive forms of authority.”
“I guess we’re both growing past the roles ponies have defined for us,” Hope said. “I think this will be good for you, Starlight. So, what do you say?”
Starlight smiled. “I guess it would give me time to figure things out. Sure, why not. At least for a little while.”
“Great!” Hope said, full of light and life. “Then let’s start making arrangements!”
“Oh, there’s one more thing,” Raspberry said casually while looking through the file in her hoof. “There’s just been a massive snowstorm on the east side of Seaddle.”
“You’re just bringing this up now?” Hope asked. “It seems kinda important and.... Wait, only the east side?”
Raspberry nodded. “Yep. Word is that Princess Twilight finally sacked that hot-shot new weather controller she brought in at Cloudsdale and now she’s retaliating against the princess with one last blizzard.”
“But why not send it to, I don’t know, Canterlot or Ponyville?” Starlight asked. “Why Seaddle?”
“Honey, have you seen how that pegasus manages the weather?” Raspberry responded. “She hasn’t exactly earned a reputation for accuracy!”
Hope approached Raspberry and had a look at the file. “How bad is it?”
“Word is, they’re sending upwards of a hundred-fifty ponies our way, and that’s just to begin with,” Raspberry said. “Mostly frostbite, but it’s going to be a lot to handle. It also seems like a job for our head doctor. Oh, wait, do we even have a head doctor? I mean, outside of occasional jaunts to Zebraland, that is.”
Hope smiled. “Oh, I’m don’t abandon ponies who need me. I am your head doctor, after all. I’ll take on whatever comes my way. Besides, it’ll be good practice for when I get out there.”
Starlight laughed. “You don’t need practice. If there really is anything you were born to do, it has to be this.”
Radiant Hope beamed. Her whole being shined with light. “Let’s get started.”
Hope walked past Raspberry, out of the study, and back into the hospital proper. Raspberry and Starlight watched her as she set out to be a healer once again.
“You know, there’s something different about her,” Raspberry said.
“Tell me about it,” Starlight answered.
Raspberry looked to Starlight. “So I guess you’re someone else who’s jumped the employment line. So what, are you another one of her new flings or something?”
Starlight’s brows raised. “What? What would ever give you an idea like that?”
“Oh, nothing,” Raspberry chuckled. “It would just fit. Things tend to be weird around here.”
It was dark now. Radiant Hope had finally finished up with the last of the frostbite victims. There had been a 100% recovery rate. No pony in Seaddle would be losing a limb to the cold today. And, if Hope had anything to say about it, the other doctors would soon know enough to keep the 100% rate up in the days and months to come.
But, knowing her friend would be late, Starlight Glimmer had found a place for herself among the cots that were designed for quick naps during 24+ hour shifts, the type of place where Hope had until so recently spent most of her nights. Starlight was fast asleep by the time Hope was done and Hope did not have the heart to wake her.
So Radiant Hope had made her way up to the top of the hospital, to a little balcony that overlooked the city. She was glad for the chance to clear her mind. There, she leaned against the balustrade and began turning over the day’s events in her head. It was calm and peaceful, and there was nopony else around.
She was alone. If she was certain of one thing, it was that she was alone.
“Nice night tonight, isn’t it?”
Hope spun around. There, in the moonlight, she saw an old pony wearing horn-rimmed glasses. His plaid shirt was covered over by a dark windbreaker and he had donned an old baseball cap over his grey hair. He was smiling at her.
“It’s a little chilly, maybe,” he said. “But what can you do?”
“You,” Hope said.
“Me,” he responded.
“What are you doing here?”
The pony walked up to Hope. “Well, I couldn’t stay on as a janitor in Las Pegasus, now could I?”
“So you came to be a janitor in Seaddle?”
The pony offered her a wry smile. “That depends. Do you have an opening?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “You’d have to check with Raspberry Ripple down on floor three.”
He joined her at the balustrade. “Forget about it. I’ve been thinking I should get out of the business. Too much cleaning up of other people’s messes for my taste.”
Together, they gazed out at the city skyline, with all of its twinkling lights.
“You did good, kid,” the old pony said.
“Did I?” Hope asked.
“You’re now in charge of the world’s premier medical institution. I say that’s not bad for a Thursday.”
“It all still feels like a blur. When I walked into here today, I had no position. And now I have maybe the most prestigious medical position in the world. I don’t know if I’m okay with it, honestly. I don’t know if I’m ready for everything that comes with it.”
“Things like wealth, fame, influence, respect. What a burden. I feel for you.”
“It’s just, I don’t know if this is right for me,” Hope said. “I know I am a healer. But all the rest of it, I don’t know. I mean, is this really me? What am I?”
“Who do you think you are?”
“Every pony seems to have their own opinion. To half of Equestria, I’m a hero. To the other half, I’m a villain. And I don’t want to be either of those things.”
“People see what they want. It makes it easier to ignore everything they don’t like. Don’t worry about it. But who do you think you are?”
“I thought I finally knew. But then Dr. Fie dropped this thing on me. And now I don’t know. Am I the head doctor of Seaddle Specialist or am I somepony else?”
“You’re the same pony you always were,” the pony said, “and also whatever pony you want to be.”
“The pony I want to be doesn’t want to be surrounded by a big building with loyal staff, the adoration of the city, and respect around the world. If I wanted this, I could have still tried to be a princess.”
“Doctor. Princess. Titles. Titles were a mistake. They’re just there so you can get bossed around by somebody and then thank them for the trouble.”
Hope looked at the old pony. “But is this what I was supposed to do? Is this my destiny?”
The old pony was unmoved. “Why are you asking me?”
“You always seemed to have the answers. Did you know I would get this job? Could you have told me?”
“Sure, I could have, as soon as the news came. But then it just seemed silly.”
“No, I mean, before.”
“What? Could I see the future? Who do I look like, Starswirl the Bearded? Imagine me with a big, white beard!”
Hope shook her head. “I know, it’s silly. But, I just keep thinking, I saw my destiny in the Crystal Heart. I saw myself as a princess. And it kinda came true today.”
“Did it? This doesn’t seem like a palace to me. It‘s too big and expensive.”
“Well, no, not technically—”
“I thought you were more.”
Hope tilted her head. “More? What do you mean?”
The old pony raised his brows. “I think you’re still getting too wrapped up in the princess thing. It won’t last forever, you know. There was a time before the princesses, there will be a time after. Equestria will need a different kind of pony, then. Might as well get started now.”
Hope laid her head on the balustrade. “So, you don’t think I should keep the job?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then you think I should leave it?”
“I didn’t say that, either.”
“What do you think I should do?”
“Not my place to say. The way I see it, there’s a danger in giving advice. Sooner or later, somepony actually goes and follows it.”
Hope let out a sigh. “I could use some advice right now. I wish Dr. Fie were still here. He knew how to make things clear for me. I mean, no offense, but you just muddy things up.”
The old pony shrugged. “What did I tell you? Janitor was a terrible career choice.”
Hope looked out at the skyline. In the darkness, city and sky seemed indivisible, all part of one vast cloak of night. But this cloak was studded with gems, the shimmering lights of the buildings below and the stars above.
“The thing about mud, though, is it get washed away eventually,” the old pony said. “You can blot out light with darkness, but sooner or later light breaks through. You can ignore your heart and do what your told, but sooner or later, your heart wins out. If only we had more people who knew how to listen to it. We'll need them soon enough.”
“But where do we find ponies like that?” Hope asked.
"I'm standing next to one of them."
Hope glanced at him, surprised. "Me? Do you really think so?"
The old pony offered a single nod. “I can’t give you any advice, Hope, because you don’t need it. You already know what to do. If you want to go to Zebraland, go to Zebraland. The position, the title, none of it matters. What matters is you. Keep listening to what your heart is saying, because there you’ll find the answers. Otherwise, you’ll spend all your life cleaning up other people’s messes.”
“But my heart feels like the problem,” Hope said as she raised her head. “It tells me such strange things. It told me to seek out Sombra for a thousand years, but then when I had him, it told me to let him go. It told me to honor Dr. Fie and help ponies, but now it’s telling me I don’t want to do it here. It took me into the darkness, only then to take me back into the light. It isn’t making things clear. It’s just making them....”
“Muddy?”
“Exactly.”
The old pony looked out at the slumbering city. “If something’s clean and tidy, it usually means somebody's been there already. The trailblazers are the ones who have to go through the mud.”
Hope’s eyes widened. “Are you saying I’m going to blaze some trails?”
The pony offered his wry smile. “To know that, I’d have to know the future, wouldn’t I?”
“I guess so.”
“But, like I said, trust your heart. It may take you to some interesting places, but they’ll all be places you need to be.”
Hope nodded. “Okay. Then I think I made my decision. I’ll go to Zebraland. The title will get me there, but once there, I have a feeling it won’t mean much. And that’s for the best. It doesn’t matter to me. I just know I need to go. Then we’ll see what happens afterward.”
“We’ll see,” the old pony repeated. “But if there’s one piece of advice I am happy to give you, it’s this; don’t be too hard on yourself. When there's too much light around you, you can't learn how to follow the light within you. You need to go through the darkness to do that. Most ponies don't ever get there. You did."
“It took me long enough.”
“Eh, there are worse things than taking your time. Have you seen what they’re doing the Crystal Empire these days? I remember when a flugelhorn was four, five bits, tops. Turns out a thousand years of inflation isn’t something you can just write off. They sure adapted quickly, though.”
“They sure did,” Hope said with a laugh. “I’m glad I don’t live there anymore.”
“At least you didn’t turn out to be another disappointment.”
Hope smiled. “Thank you.”
He reached out a hoof and patted Hope’s cheek. “Like I said, kid, you did good. Even if it is nothing compared to what you’re going to do.”
He then turned from the balustrade and began to walk into the night.
“Wait, what?” Hope asked as she spun around. “Can you please just explain something for once?”
“Life wouldn’t be any fun that way,” the pony answered without turning back.
“Can you at least tell me who you are? I don’t think you’ve ever said.”
The old pony came to a halt and turned to face Hope in the moonlight. He smiled.
“Me? I’m just a comedian performing for an audience who’s too afraid to laugh.”
The pony turned to leave once more. Soon, Hope could no longer see him in the darkness.
Hope turned back to the skyline beyond. She tried to piece things together in her mind.
She thought she heard the wind pick up. Its rustling sounded almost like a voice. A dry, raspy voice.
“Look it up!”
The wind was growing stronger, but Hope did not mind. She may have been by herself now, but she did not feel alone. After the Siege, she had felt constantly alone in the world. But somewhere along the way, it had disappeared somehow. She was not alone. Hope had a feeling that, wherever she found herself, she would never be alone again.
"Thank you, Sombra," she said in a voice like a whisper. "Thank you, Starlight. Thank you, Misericordia. Thank you, Dr. FIe. Thank you, everyone. You all helped me to find myself again."
For a little while longer, Hope looked out over the city skyline, with its singular mixture of light and darkness. She looked so long that the light and the darkness seemed to swirl together, slowly merging and becoming one in her sight. She held her hooves to her heart.
There was a light in all this darkness, Hope realized. It was her. She was shining again, a singular light among all the lights in the city below and in the sky above. Though she could not be sure, for obvious reasons, it almost seemed to Hope as though she was the brightest of them all.
Hope looked up at the light of the moon above. She thought over what awaited her in the coming days. She did not know where she would end up or what she would encounter. But she knew it would be what she needed. She felt her heart beating in her chest — her good, strong heart.
I trust you, Hope thought. Now take me where I need to go.
The wind kicked up again, wrapping itself around Hope. She felt as though it was surrounding her with warmth on all sides. The moon and the stars seemed to shine brighter than ever before. Except, neither of these things were true. The light and the warmth were coming from Hope herself.
Radiant Hope smiled. She recognized this emotion.
Hope.
Completum est.